Today we took a 3.5 hour bus ride from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai. The bus station was open air, and the bus had large, comfy seats and air conditioning. We took a taxi from the bus station to the Awana House, which was a short walk from the Tha Pae Gate inside the old city. Chiang Mai used to be a city inside a high wall and surrounded by a moat for protection from intruders. Today, the old wall still remains, but Chiang Mai has expanded much farther outside those walls. It's the largest city in northern Thailand.
The Awana House is set back on a small road near the eastern side of the old city. This was $27 per night, which included a private air conditioned room with a balcony, bathroom, rooftop terrace with lots of lounge space and 360 degree view of the city, and access to an outdoor covered pool on the first floor. The hotel was quiet, clean, very comfortable, and the staff were friendly and very helpful. We went for a dip in the pool, which was surprisingly cold despite the heat outside because it's not exposed to the sun. This was a great way to cool off in the afternoon heat.
Our first day in Chiang Mai was very chill. We had a lazy morning and made our way to a cheap and delicious breakfast spot. We both had khao soi for $2.40 total, and I ordered rice with homemade veggie meats to go for later. Khao soi is a popular dish in northern Thailand. It's noodles with veggies and meat in a spicy coconut curry broth with crispy noodles on top. This quickly became one of my favorite dishes. For lunch we went to a nearby spot and had quesadillas, homefries, and fresh fruit drinks. Next we went hunting for a massage place I had found on Google Maps for 200 baht per hour ($6). Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found. We gave up and settled for 300 baht per hour massages instead ($9). Not too shabby! Next we went back to the hotel and sat on the rooftop terrace with a beer while we watched the sunset over the city.
Chiang Mai is definitely more expensive and caters to tourists more than Chiang Rai. No surprise, since Chiang Mai is the largest city in northern Thailand. I could still find deals while searching Google Maps though, and as long as we avoided western food and ate Thai food, we were able to keep the prices low. We were less interested in the tours being offered in Chiang Mai than in Chiang Rai because they were more expensive ($75-$150/person instead of $30/person) and many of them were repeats from what we had already seen. On the other hand, Chiang Mai had a lot more restaurants and variety of services due to its size.
We were going to rent bikes next door to our hotel for 50 baht per 24 hours ($1.50), but they were sold out. I searched on Google Maps and found another bike shop that was within walking distance that had good reviews, and we stopped at a nearby restaurant for lunch. The food there was SO GOOD we had to go back the next day for more. Bike tours around the city started at $30/person. Instead, we planned a tour of our own using Google Maps and rented bikes for $1.50/person. Getting around the city by bicycle was surprisingly easy despite the crazy traffic. As long as we stayed far to the left (because vehicles drive on the left instead of the right in Thailand), traffic just zipped around us without any issues. Even though we didn't have a local tour guide, I figured out that I can use the Google Translate app to translate signs, so I could understand what I was looking at. In one afternoon we went to multiple temples and a beautiful park all inside the old city.
We went to the post office to mail a few cards and gifts back to friends and family in the US. Unfortunately, the gifts wouldn't reach Louisiana before Christmas unless we paid $60, which was way too much for us. We decided to pay for standard rate shipping instead, which would get the packages there a week after Christmas. We had to fill out paperwork declaring what we were mailing and the value of each item. We also had to provide our passport numbers and the address of the hotel we were staying at in Chiang Mai. Fortunately, the post office employee was very helpful and walked us through the process.
